bigglesfandomcom-20200215-history
The Oriental Touch
The Oriental Touch is the eighth short story in the anthology Biggles Flies Again. The story was originally published in the February 1934 edition of Popular Flying. It was then gathered in Biggles Flies Again in 1934. From 1935, it was also reprinted in other periodicals. In Flies Again, this story is preceded by Savages and Wings and followed by Down in the Forest. Synopsis Biggles and Algy leave New Guinea and journey up through Indonesia, Singapore and Penang. On their way to Rangoon, they rescue a man, apparently a castaway. He persuades them to do a favour for him. Plot (click on expand to read) Biggles, Algy and Smyth proceed up through Indonesia, Singapore, Penang and set course for Rangoon. On the way, they pass the Mergui Archipelago where they spot and pick up a man clinging on to a raft in the water. The man tells them he is "Hoi Sing", a wealthy merchant from Shanghai. He had been on his way to India with a valuable cargo when his junk had been attacked and captured by the pirate "Li Chi", whom he described as "the worst character that ever sailed these seas". Li Chi had taken him prisoner and thrown him overboard. Fortunately most of his crew survived as they had been ashore on an island fetching fresh water. Biggles tells him he saw a junk with a yellow sail near Raffa Island. Hoi Sing confirms that is his junk which Li Chi had now hijacked. Hoi Sing persuades Biggles to first fly him to Penang and then to return him to the island where his crew had been marooned. There, he wants Biggles to transport his crew over to Raffa Island so that he can retake his ship. Biggles agrees and they go to Penang take on a chest of clothes and some sacks containing money with which Hoi Sing pays Biggles handsomely for th ehire of the machine. Biggles then flies Hoi Sing to an island where he meets up wit his crew. In several short hops, Biggles ferries his crew, some fifteen in number, over to Raffa island. In parting, Hoi Sing hands Biggles a small parcel, asking him not to open it until he reaches Rangoon. As Biggles and Algy depart, they could hear the sound of gunfire, suggesting that Hoi Sing had begun his attack on Li Chi. Two days later, Biggles and Algy are in Rangoon when they read an astonishing news story which reveals that they had been duped. It turns out that the man they had rescued was not Hoi Sing but Li Chi himself. Li Chi had apparently been captured when his ship, which was smuggling opium, met a British government sloop, the Cormorant. Li Chi had been captured but had escaped by jumping overboard. Then he had tricked Biggles into reuniting him with some of his crew which had evaded capture by hiding on an island. Biggles had unwittingly ferried his crew over to Raffa Island where they then attacked and caputred Hoi Sing's ship, murdering Hoi Sing and all his crew. The junk with the yellow sail, believed to have been captured by Li Chi, was last seen heading towards India. This puzzled the authorities because Li Chi's load of opium had been seized by the Cormorant but he appeared to be sailing towards his destination as though he had a fresh load of contraband on board. Biggles opens the parcel Li Chi had given him and finds two large, valuable pearls and a thank you note from Li Chi. He now wondered what could have been in the chest they had fetched from Penang and concludes that the sooner he and Algy are away and on the move, the better. Characters *Biggles *Algy Lacey *Smyth *Li Chi *Hoi Sing *Captain Starkey *Captain Dupree Aircraft *Vickers Vandal Ships *''Cormorant'' *''S.S. Pacific'' Places Visited *Lombok *Surabaya *Jakarta *Singapore *Penang *Raffa Island *Rangoon **Hotel Mandalay Mentioned Editorial Changes Other Research Notes References to the past Incongruities Chronology Publication History *''Popular Flying'', February 1934 *''Biggles Flies Again'', August 1934 and subsequent editions *''Modern Boy'', No. 381, 1935 entitled Biggles Castaway, which includes both The Oriental Touch and the next story Down in the Forest. *''Ace High'' edited by Flight Lieutenant (W E Johns), 1936 References Category:Short stories Category:Interwar era short stories Category:Biggles short stories